The Son of El Topo or A Sensual Travel to be Alejandro Jodorowsky’s next film after Endless Poetry (Cannes Film Festival Breaking News)

Legendary director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Endless Poetry just premiered in Cannes as part of The Director’s Fortnight, but he’s not resting on his laurels, and is already talking about what’s next. At the age of 87, Jodorowsky is, surprisingly, in perhaps the most prolific period of his life with regards to films.

Endless Poetry is a direct sequel to Jodorowsky’s The Dance of Reality, and where that film told the story of Jodorowsky’s early years as a child, this new film covers Jodorowsky as a young man, and concludes as he is about to go to France. Endless Poetry ends very similarly to the way in which The Dance of Reality ended, and seems to be very much setting up for another sequel. I put this to Jodorowsky, who had the following to say:

“In my mind, if I live to one hundred years, I will make three more. [At the end of Endless Poetry] I am going to Paris, and had an encounter with Gaston Bachelard. And then with Marcel Marceau. I did the mime. I did all that. And then surrealism. I was there… I had a life there. I even have the title, A Sensual Travel. For number four, I went from Paris to Mexico. I lived twenty years in Mexico… with all the shamans and magicians. All my adventures in Mexico. And number five, will be my own adventure when I am an old man and I find the love of my life. Pure Love. The history of my life with my woman. I knew for the first time in my life, what is love.”

But that’s not all, Jodorowsky is also planning to make his long gestating The Son of El Topo film, a sequel to his 1970 cult classic. Jodorowsky has recently put together a graphic novel of the first thirty minutes of the first film, with help from artist José Ladrönn. I was lucky enough to see the graphic novel, and it looks very much in keeping with the original film, and is packed full of arresting imagery. The graphic novel has a table of contents at the start that lists three chapters: ‘Abel’, ‘Cain’ and ‘Abelcain’, but Jodorowsky said that this novel is part one of four. I also spoke to Jodorowsky about The Son of El Topo and he discussed the graphic novel and his desire to make the film:

“I make a ‘graphic film’ [the graphic novel]. It’s like a film. That [the graphic novel] is the script. I have had this in my mind for so long and wanted to do it. This is the first part and I already have two, three and four. If I live to a hundred years old, I will die happy.”

And on the subject of when and where:

“I will try to do it as soon as I have the money, in North Chile. Or maybe Mexico… The interiors, anywhere.”

It doesn’t sound as if Jodorowsky is committed to either A Sensual Travel or The Son of El Topo next, but he seemed incredibly hopeful that he would be making one of these two pictures next. I expect we will be hearing about which way he’s going very soon though, as he didn’t hang around following the premiere of The Dance of Reality, and he seems to be very keen to get working on a new feature soon. My money would probably be on The Son of El Topo, as it appears very much like he is shopping that film around for financing right now.

The image at the head of this post is from the The Son of El Topo graphic novel.